Kerry Says ‘Mistrust’ Won’t Derail Israeli-Palestinian Talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, listens as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry makes a statement to the press before a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office on Jan. 2, 2014 in Jerusalem. Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
expressed optimism today that a “high level of mistrust”
between Israeli and Palestinian officials won’t impede the
progress he sees in peace talks.

“I know that there are those out there who, on both sides,
question whether peace is possible,” Kerry told journalists in
Jerusalem today. “But it is clear to me that we can work to
bridge the remaining gaps that do exist.” He spoke after 12
hours of meetings over the weekend with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and eight with Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas.

Kerry, on his 10th trip to the area, called the visit a
“productive couple of days” in his bid to produce an agreed
Israeli-Palestinian framework to guide negotiations on a final
peace treaty.

The framework accord would address all issues at the heart
of the conflict and establish “the fixed, defined parameters by
which the parties would then know where they are going and what
the end result can be,” he said Jan. 2.

In a sign of the mistrust Kerry mentioned, Netanyahu told
his cabinet that Palestinian incitement against Israel persists.

“First and foremost, we see continued opposition to
recognition of the Jewish state,” he said at the weekly cabinet
meeting, in remarks broadcast on Israel Radio. Netanyahu has
insisted the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state to
avert any future claims against it after a final peace deal is
signed. The Palestinians object, saying that would mean
surrendering rights of Palestinian refugees who lost homes in
present-day Israel.

Assassination Suspicions

In an interview with the London-based daily Asharq al-Awsat
published Jan. 3, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat suggested
Israel may be laying the groundwork to assassinate Abbas. Erekat
repeated claims in some Palestinian quarters that the late
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004, had been
poisoned, and implied Abbas may meet the same fate.

“Before Arafat was killed by poison, there were calls” in
a previous Israeli government to “get rid” of Arafat, the
newspaper quoted him as saying. “They are repeating the same
thing now,” he said, citing Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor
Liberman as telling European leaders Abbas should be removed.

Two panels of international experts have ruled out the
poisoning hypothesis, while a third said tests “reasonably
support” it.

Jordan Valley

While details of the negotiations are being kept secret,
one area of disagreement that has emerged publicly concerns
future security arrangements in the Jordan Valley section of the
West Bank. The Palestinians claim the area for a future state,
while Israel insists its forces must remain in the area even
after a handover, to safeguard its eastern flank.

Israeli Minister of Intelligence and Strategic Affairs
Yuval Steinitz said his government will reject other proposals,
including relying on Palestinian security forces, international
troops or electronic monitoring systems.

“One thing is clear to us: Our security has to remain in
our own hands,” he said.

Even if Netanyahu agrees to Kerry’s proposals, he will face
opposition within his own government. Ayelet Shaked, a lawmaker
from the Jewish Home party, told Israel Radio today that the
faction, parliament’s third-biggest, would quit the government
if it agreed to base future borders of a Palestinian state on
the lines Israel held before capturing the West Bank, east
Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in 1967. Israel withdrew forces and
settlers from Gaza in 2005.

The Palestinians have demanded that any deal base border
negotiations on the 1967 lines, which Netanyahu has termed
“indefensible.” The U.S. has agreed, provided it also mention
territorial swaps that could account for some of the biggest
Israeli settlements in the West Bank.